Municipal Utilities Commission April 2014 Meeting Minutes

Transcription

1 Call to order Harold Rodbourn called to order the regular meeting of the at 4:30 PM on April 1, 2014 at BEGWS Small Conference Room. Roll call Chairman Rodbourn conducted a roll call. The following persons were present which constituted a quorum: Chairman Vice Chairman Commissioner Commissioner Village Trustee Director Others Harold J. Rodbourn Michael Austin Barney Bonicave Rhonda Sweet Michael Sweet Guy Hallgren Mayor Bill Von Hagn Audit of Bills The bills were reviewed by all Commissioners present. Motion by Commissioner Sweet and seconded by Commissioner Bonicave, passed unanimously to pay the Abstract of Audited Vouchers: April 1, 2014 for Electric Fund of $188, No Electric Upgrade bills were submitted for April payment. List of accounts payable and electronic fund transfers paid to date: April 1, 2014 Approval of minutes from last meeting Expense Amount CNG $384, Payroll for Period 7, 2014 $65, New York State Sales Tax $14, NYMPA $329, NYSEG $21, NYPA $88, Motion by Commissioner Sweet and seconded by Commissioner Austin to accept as read for March Passed unanimously. Petitions and Communications The supervisors report for the month of February was reviewed by the Commissioners and a copy of this report is attached to and made part of these minutes.

2 Supervisors Report Accounting/Commercial Office/Meter Reading During the month BEGWS Accounting Staff continued working on the Budget. Updated the projected to budget variance report. On March 3 rd & 5th, Jim Housworth & Krissy Towner along with BEGWS employees from other departments attended an Interest-Based Negotiation Training class at the Village Hall. The class was instructed by Art Wheaton from The Worker Institute of Cornell University. The course focused on the basics of Interest-Based Bargaining and included mock negotiations between the Union and Management Staff. The retro payments due to union employees and were paid on 3/7/14. Throughout the month the accounting staff gathered information for Frank Radigan of the Hudson River Energy Group pertaining to the Electric and Gas rate cases and the outstanding gas LAUF issue. On March 20 th all of 2013 delinquent water, sewer, & sewer unit accounts were submitted to the Village and the Town. The amounts submitted this year to be applied to upcoming tax bills were $24, for the Village and $ for the Town. On March 13 th, BEGWS received a $440,000 RAN from Five Star Bank for the electric department for a term of 90 days at 1.28%. The Bonadio Group has scheduled to start preliminary audit work at BEGWS on April 9 th. The Commercial Office Staff has been receiving many customer complaints for high bills. This is due to the adjustment rate increase that we notified all customers about and to high usages due to the weather. The Staff has been doing an excellent job in dealing with this high volume of difficult calls. During the month of March $0 were spent on the Electric Upgrade Project. One QRS case of a customer complaint was filed with the NYS PSC during the month of March against BEGWS and has been resolved. Month to date 7,628 meters have been read out of a possible 8,330. This is a 91.6% reading rate so far this month, with 738 meters still scheduled to be read. Percentage of meters not read by department are: Electric 4.2%, Gas 12.7%, & Water 13.0%. The primary reason for not getting a read is a lack of access to the meter and no coverage when a Meter Reader is off is another contributing factor. Jim Housworth Accounting Supervisor Electric Department Supervisors Report Repaired 3 Street lights and 6 Security lights Repaired burned up meter box for South side Exit 38 lights Continued work on the next phase of the 12 KV upgrade, setting 12 new poles Responded to callouts on Sandpit Rd, County Rt 10 and County Rt 11 Completed all the tree removal for the Village removing more than 20 trees Continued meter changes for the 2014 meter test program targeting meters for the meter readers.

3 Mark and Jeff and Guy attended an MEUA engineering workshop on March Topics included forklift safety, system protection and fusing, automated meter reading and switch gear. Mark Hawk Electric Department Supervisor Service Department Supervisors Report Investigated 6 gas odor complaints. The Service Department & UGLM Department have painted all the offices, hallways, and 14 Ark St location. Have also stripped and waxed the floors. We have submitted our 2013 gas meter intest report to the PSC, along with our proposed meter change & test schedule. Randy Watkins (mechanic) replaced broken springs on the pole trailer. Cleaned a plugged gas 38 Warden and installed a new meter. Working with Joel Moore of Integrity Engineering to gather information needed to engineer new meter sets for Route 54, Murray Ave., and Avenue A. S Larsen Service Department UGLM Supervisors Report Repaired Fluoride saturator in Well # 4 Replaced water service main to curb at 123 E Steuben St Replaced gas curb stop at 7050 Golfview Jetted sewer main on Williamson Terrace Dug gas main at intersection of E. Washington and May St to repair leak Located sewer main for Steuben County DPW at their garage Cleaned and painted shop walls Painting wells at this time Have done many Dig Safely Requests Working on Operator Qualification testing for gas Helped Village Street Dept haul snow from Pulteney Park Serviced all of small equipment used in UGLM Dept Dan Borhman UGLM Supervisor WWTP Supervisors Report Daily lab test & regular maintenance Repaired broken sludge line from sludge thickener to digesters Replaced Electrode Dome kit on the pista grit pump

4 Unplugged pipe going to pista grit pump Removed 50 horsepower motor for blower #1. To be rebuilt Pressed 247,700 gal of sludge for Village of Dansville Royce Hoad Waste Water Treatment Plant Supervisor The MUC received correspondence from the New York Power Authority (NYPA) that they continue to be concerned about the river flows projected for Current estimates are for sufficient generation capacity for April Bill Paying Session Time Change Per the March MUC meeting a request was made to check into whether or not two meeting were required per the NYS Comptrollers Audit from year After review of this report there are no recommendations for conducting by weekly meetings for review of utility bills. In addition there are no monetary limits placed with regards with which the MUC are required to review. The commission has elected to try one bill paying review meeting per month. The Summary of Bills ledger will be created and printed and sent electronically to the commission members on the 3 rd Tuesday of the month for their review. Schedule modification has been requested changed on the Village of Bath website. PSC Meeting Overview On March 18, Director Hallgren traveled to Albany, NY to meet with both Gas and Electric PSC personnel as well as BEGWS representation Frank Radigan and Phil Teuman. The purpose of this meeting was meant mainly as an introduction of the new BEGWS Director but did touch on subjects such as the lost and unaccounted for gas issue with Corning Natural Gas. In addition Director Hallgren made a presentation of BEGWS goals and projects for Union Memorandum of Agreement The union memorandum of agreement was submitted to and reviewed by Village Attorney Pat McAllister. His review requested no language changes. Director Hallgren was authorized to sign and forward to the signed copy to the CSEA Union leadership for publication. Grant Received for 24 hours of Training BEGWS has been awarded 24 hours of Health and Safety training through Cornell University. This is the result of training acquired through Cornell for Mutual Interest Bargaining. Accounting Department The budget variance report, operating spending report, and BEGWS contract expenditures report were submitted by Director Hallgren for review. These reports are used to identify risks in both spending and income as well as identify trends such that adjustments can be made to spending to ensure the organizations financial health. Commissioner Bonicave asked if any funds were borrowed from Village of Bath funds. Director Hallgren stated he knew of no funds borrowed. After further investigation after the meeting Director Hallgren has determined that $230,000 were borrowed from Village funds. These funds will be paid back in May Electric Department Director Hallgren provided an update of the Electric Upgrade project. A schedule of tasks was presented showing the progression to work to be completed. Director Hallgren stated that energizing the new substation would be deferred until April 16 th. This was due to late requests by NYSEG requesting additional relay settings at other BEGWS substations.

5 Outage Communication Plan A request was made of O Connell Electric to provide a sequence of conversion plan to BEGWS. As of yet, this plan has not be received. Director Hallgren made another request on March 31 for this same information. As soon as the plan is received the information will be forwarded to Village Officials. In addition press releases will be made to appropriate organizations. Adjournment Request for Adjournment by Vice Chairman M Austin, seconded by Commissioner Sweet. Harold Rodbourn adjourned the meeting at 5:35 pm. Minutes submitted by: Guy Hallgren